At the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco today, Google announced a new version of the Google Play Games Services that enables cross-platform multiplayer support for iOS and Android games. Play Games Services is a backend API for developers of Android, iOS, and even Web games that gives developers the ability to set up achievements, leaderboards, multiplayer and cloud saves using Google's cloud infrastructure and development APIs.

Google also announced that its Unity plugin will soon be updated with the new cross-platform features, and an "early" Play Games C++ SDK, which supports achievements and leaderboards.

The Play Store will also get an update soon, adding 12 new categories. The Google Play Developer Console will also be updated with some Play Games analytics, and Google said that it will be launching "in-app purchase ads," giving developers a new way to "target users with specific promotions to buy items in your game."

For users, Google's Play Games app will allow users to invite each other to multiplayer games, and to send "game gifts" to each other.